This month, July 2009, there is an excellent article from Jim Laube, entitled “Fairy Tales! The Top 10 Myths of Restaurant Profitability“.   Two of these myths focus on labor, and labor costs, including Myth 5 and Myth 6.

Paying Higher Wages Increases Labor Costs: Myth 5

As Jim explains, every restaurant (or retail business) has its superstars.   An employee that can twice (or more) the amount of work as any other staff member.   A cook that can cook more than anyone else.   A busser who can keep the whole store clean without any help.   A cashier who can run two lines.   These employees are, to put it frankly, “busting it“, and should be paid more than someone who just does the “minimum“.

However, paying a superstar more than their co-workers doesn’t increase labor costs , it often decreases them.   Which scenario would you rather have, assuming that both scenarios are able to serve an equivalent number of customers?

Scenario 1:
Two bartenders making $8.50 / hour, working a 5 hour shift?
Total wages:   $8.50 per hour * 2 employees * 5 hours = $85

Scenario 2:
One bartender making $12.00 / hour, working a 5 hour shift?
Total wages:   $12.00 per hour * 1 employee * 5 hours = $60

A superstar bartender (Scenario 2) can outwork, and at a lower overall cost, two mediocre bartenders.

Finding these superstar bartenders is part of the difficulty in managing , but if you can find them, and promote them, your business will profit.

Paying Overtime is a Sign of Bad Management or Poor Scheduling:   Myth 6

In most restaurants, there is an operational mandate to ensure that part-time staff members work less than 35 or 40 hours per week.   This is in effort to keep from paying overtime, which is commonly 50% more expensive (time and a half), or even 100% more expensive (double time).   While this is a great idea from an hours and cost perspective, this mandate does forget about one key factor , the employee.

Commonly, employees who are working in part time positions need extra hours to make ends meet.   These staff members, who may be critical to the business, have certain financial needs and sometimes need to work extra hours to meet these needs.   By not allowing these staff members to work extra hours (perhaps 45 to 50 hours) occasionally, they may seek employment elsewhere , creating higher turnover, and costing the business in hiring, turnover, and lost business while seeking a replacement.

If at all possible, try to accommodate employee needs , be it with the occasional extra overtime hours, or scheduling staff on certain days to work around a second job or specific availability.   Staff members are less likely to go elsewhere if all of their needs can be met at one particular job.

Make sure to read some of the other myths, available online.

TimeForge employee scheduling software is used by managers and operators of independent restaurants, and retailers, as well as franchises and chains of companies in the hospitality, food-service, retail, and other service-oriented industries.   TimeForge will increase profitability, reduce turnover, and improve retention at your business!

Related articles or pages

• Workforce Labor Scheduling Updates (Part 2)
• Workforce Labor Scheduling Updates (Part 1)
• Updates to Employee Scheduling and Time and Attendance Software
• Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor – More Time Managing Your Business
• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants

Babysitting the time clock to ensure your employees aren’t riding the clock or punching each other in isn’t much fun either, but successful managers know that attendance monitoring can go a long way towards cutting and forecasting labor costs.

Over-scheduling could drain away your profits. Under-scheduling could drain away your customers. Skillful retail employee scheduling and attendance monitoring isn’t easy. It can be tedious and time consuming. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be.

Read more about TimeForge labor management and children’s retailers here.

TimeForge labor management and employee scheduling software is used by owners and operators of children retail stores, retailers, food-service, and other service-oriented businesses around the world. TimeForge will increase profitability, reduce turnover, and improve retention at your business!

Related articles or pages

• June Newsletter
• Employee Schedule Snapshots
• What's Coming Soon?
• TimeForge v2.4.5
• Supercharged Scheduling from Nations Restaurant News

Even in the best economic climates, staff scheduling for auto parts and supply stores can be a headache.   The manager building the employee schedule has to consider staff abilities and skills, the expected sales volume, employee availability and requests, accrued PTO (and sick and vacation time), labor laws for employees who are minors, overtime, and the total labor costs.

TimeForge works wonders for businesses in the auto supply or auto parts industries – managers and employees alike can benefit from the speed and clarity that TimeForge brings to the business.   Employees can check schedules online, request time off, view timecards, and send messages to other staff members.   Managers benefit from the instant employee scheduling, real-time notifications of schedule changes, employee messaging, and one-click payroll exports.

With TimeForge, employee turnover goes down, employee retention goes up, and profits rise.

Read more about TimeForge for Auto Supply and Automobile Parts businesses.

TimeForge labor management and employee scheduling software is used by owners and operators of automobile parts and auto supply stores, car washes, retail, food-service, and other service-oriented businesses around the world.   TimeForge will increase profitability, reduce turnover, and improve retention at your business!

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge v2.4.5
• Southwest Food Expo
• Reduce Turnover with Shift Scheduling Software
• Labor Management for Car Wash Companies
• Employee Labor Scheduling: Interview with TimeForge.com's Anthony Presley

Last year, the show was one of the largest restaurant and food service shows in the UNited States.   In fact, we exhibited during the 2008 show, and spoke to hundreds of independent and chain restaurants, as well as a few retailers, and a number of culinary students and schools.   The response to TimeForge was great!

However, this year the show was much smaller — only about 400 exhibitors, and the show seemed to be slow, similar to what we experienced at the National Restaurant Association (NRA) show, and at the National Association for Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) trade shows in 2009.   The exhibitors we spoke to said it was slower as well.

If you are in the Dallas, Houston, or Austin areas and you need a Point of Sale system, a full service labor management system (employee scheduling and/or attendance management), or just help with your computer systems and networks, please make sure to check out our partners!

TimeForge employee scheduling software is used by owners and operators of foodservice and hospitality related businesses around the world.   TimeForge will reduce turnover, improve retention, and increase profits at your business!

Related articles or pages

• What's Coming Soon?
• Supercharged Scheduling from Nations Restaurant News
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 2)
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 1)

TimeForge works great for car wash businesses – both conveyor and self-service car washes have complicated labor management needs, and can benefit from the speed and convenience of TimeForge.   In a recession, efficient employee scheduling at a car wash operation can spell the difference between survival and success.

Read more about TimeForge and car washes here.

TimeForge employee scheduling software is used by owners and operators of car washes, retail, hospitality, food-service, and other service-oriented businesses around the world.   TimeForge will increase profitability, reduce turnover, and improve retention at your business!

Related articles or pages

• Southwest Food Expo
• What's Coming Soon?
• TimeForge v2.4.5
• Supercharged Scheduling from Nations Restaurant News
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)

This newsletter includes some details about new features in TimeForge, several scheduling and labor tips, and other information.   As always, if you have any suggestions for TimeForge, please let us know!

New TimeForge Partners

TimeForge is proud to be a certified Dinerware partner, providing advanced labor management and employee scheduling for restaurants, country clubs, casinos, wineries, and hotels.   Read more about the TimeForge-Dinerware integration here.

We are also very excited to welcome Factor One Technology as a TimeForge Partner.   Factor One provides Point of Sale systems to retail and restaurant businesses in Canada.

Also, TimeForge now supports exporting attendance and payroll data to the world’s premier online payroll company, SurePayroll.   Exporting payroll has never been easier!

New TimeForge Features

• Enjoy the brand new TimeForge Today page – with improved access to schedules, attendance, shift swaps, and much more!
• Perform “What If” scenarios on your labor schedule, and quickly restore previously saved schedules using Schedule Snapshots.
• Bulk insert or update employee, position, and department-level information by using an import file.
• Access TimeForge on an iPhone, Blackberry, or other RSS capable device to receive up-to-the-minute schedule and labor information.
• And much, much more.

Did you know that you can access TimeForge on Facebook?   Check schedules, see who is clocked in, receive and send messages, review time cards, and much more!

Follow TimeForge on Twitter!

Make sure to check our blog for the latest information about TimeForge.

TimeForge employee scheduling software is used by owners and operators of hospitality, food-service, retail, and other service-oriented businesses around the world.   TimeForge will increase profitability, reduce turnover, and improve retention at your business!

Related articles or pages

• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants
• Labor Management for Childrens Retailers
• Generation Y Part One: Marketing
• Employee Schedule Snapshots
• Aquatic Centers

TimeForge Scheduling has been designed from the ground up to keep managers on the floor, not stuck in the back room working in Excel or on a clipboard!

TimeForge is a web-based employee scheduling and labor management system that ensures staff stay informed of any schedule changes with text messages, email messages, Facebook, and smart phone access (such as a Blackberry or iPhone) – automatically!

More than 2,500 businesses around the world have used TimeForge to manage their labor – retail stores, restaurants, bars, clubs, pharmacies, valet companies, doctors offices, children’s health clinics, child care centers, churches, and many other businesses!

Build a Schedule in Seconds!

• Ease to Use
  There is no software to install, and includes a fast web-based setup.
• Cost-Effective
  Weekly schedules can be created in under a minute.
• AutoScheduler
  Gives you and other managers more time “on the floor”.
• Balanced Schedules
  Balance staff requests and labor requirements to create a perfect schedule.
• Daily Reminders
  Staff members receive daily reminders about work schedules
• Reduce Turnover
  Automatic labor management keeps staff happy, reducing turnover!
• Automatic Notifications
  TimeForge automatically notifies staff of any schedule changes.
• Control Costs
  Control labor costs with sophisticated reporting
• Instant Return On Investment
  Instant ROI so you can focus on growing your business
• Affordable
  TimeForge provides plans that are affordable for businesses of all sizes!

Employee Scheduling Software is also known as Labor Scheduling Software, and some companies refer to this type of software as Enterprise Employee Scheduling Software. Whatever your organization calls it, TimeForge Scheduling is the most powerful tool available to manage labor and control profits at your business! Read more about the capabilities of TimeForge Scheduling, or Sign Up for a Free Trial.

Download a TimeForge Media Kit, which contains more information about TimeForge Scheduling.

Related articles or pages

• Is Employee Scheduling Complicated? Not Anymore!
• Easily Manage Labor with Innovative Staffing Reports
• Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor – More Time Managing Your Business
• Building a Labor Schedule is Complicated. Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy.
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)

What can you use Employee Schedule Snapshots for?

Schedule Snapshots are useful for performing point-in-time saves.   TimeForge schedules are automatically saved anytime any field is modified, but sometimes it is useful to save the current schedule before making any modifications – so that you may come back to it if necessary.   Schedule Snapshots allow you to archive the current version of the schedule, along with some quick stats about the number of shifts, and the cost of the schedule.

At any point in time, a previous Schedule Snapshot can easily be restored.   Simply choose which snapshot you’d like to restore, and your employee work schedule will immediately roll back to the previously saved Schedule Snapshot.

Employee Schedule Snapshots are available on the Schedule Detail page, and are very useful for:

• Integrating newly hired staff members (Identifying which shifts can be moved around to accommodate the new employees)
• Locating shifts that can be removed or modified to reduce labor costs
• Viewing the effects of a shift swap or drastic schedule change prior to actually “doing it”
• Rolling back to a previous version of the current employee schedule
• And other “What If?” scenarios with the work schedule and staff members

What do you think of our Employee Schedule Snapshots?   We’d love to hear from you!

TimeForge labor management software (employee scheduling software, attendance software, and others) is used by owners and operators of restaurants, retail stores, bars, grills, and other service-oriented businesses to increase profits, reduce turnover, and improve retention.

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge v2.4.5
• Supercharged Scheduling from Nations Restaurant News
• Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor – More Time Managing Your Business
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 2)

We quickly realized that every business owner and manager has their own idea of what a “simple” employee scheduling system must do to help their business , labor scheduling requirements greatly vary by industry and location.   However, saving time and money is important to all business owners …

• Businesses in California, New York, and other areas need to schedule employee breaks (not very important in Texas, New Mexico, and other locales),
• Large organizations need to schedule multiple departments and supervisors (smaller groups only have one department),
• Labor costs need to be accurate, and account for overtime, multiple locations, positions, and job codes (many businesses fly by the seat of their pants, and don’t see the value in this information),
• Employee schedules need to be enforced, making sure employees do not arrive too early or leave too late (locations with full-time employees don’t worry about this requirement),
• And on, and on -.

Over the past several years, TimeForge has evolved to solve all of these problems , in an approachable manner for new and existing customers.

Multiple versions of the TimeForge service are now available, including:

• TimeForge Scheduling, the simple-to-use employee scheduling software, reduces labor scheduling from hours to seconds, improves employee communication (reducing frustration and turnover), and enables staff to check and receive schedules remotely.

• TimeForge Attendance, a full-featured time and attendance program, tracks when employees clock in / out, displays employee timecards, enforces the TimeForge Scheduling work schedule, and exports attendance for payroll calculations.

• TimeForge Daily Log, a powerful communications tool, records daily activities in an organized and searchable manner , removing the need for expensive physical log books.

Each TimeForge product can be used separately, or the products can be combined together to create a powerful labor management tool.   Managing labor with any of the TimeForge products will result in an immediate Return On Investment, but combining the products together will increase your profits in both good and bad economic climates.

The latest release of TimeForge continues to improve on our simple concepts, and continues to make life easy for managers and employees alike.   Read more about our latest release here…

Are complicated employee scheduling practices taking up precious time at your restaurant?   Are you making the best possible restaurant schedule?   How much turnover is created because of bad (or late) schedules? Did you know that TimeForge can improve retention, reduce turnover, and increase profits at your restaurant? Sign up today for a free trial!

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge v2.4.5
• Our New Employee Scheduling System!
• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants
• New Labor Management Reports
• Managing Employee Schedules is Important for Restaurants

TimeForge Scheduling has been designed from the ground up to keep managers on the floor, not stuck in the back room working in Excel or on a clipboard!

TimeForge is a web-based employee scheduling and labor management system that ensures staff stay informed of any schedule changes with text messages, email messages, Facebook, and smart phone access (such as a Blackberry or iPhone) – automatically!

More than 2,500 businesses around the world have used TimeForge to manage their labor – retail stores, restaurants, bars, clubs, pharmacies, valet companies, doctors offices, children’s health clinics, child care centers, churches, and many other businesses!

Build a Schedule in Seconds!

• Ease to Use
  There is no software to install, and includes a fast web-based setup.
• Cost-Effective
  Weekly schedules can be created in under a minute.
• AutoScheduler
  Gives you and other managers more time “on the floor”.
• Balanced Schedules
  Balance staff requests and labor requirements to create a perfect schedule.
• Daily Reminders
  Staff members receive daily reminders about work schedules
• Reduce Turnover
  Automatic labor management keeps staff happy, reducing turnover!
• Automatic Notifications
  TimeForge automatically notifies staff of any schedule changes.
• Control Costs
  Control labor costs with sophisticated reporting
• Instant Return On Investment
  Instant ROI so you can focus on growing your business
• Affordable
  TimeForge provides plans that are affordable for businesses of all sizes!

Employee Scheduling Software is also known as Labor Scheduling Software, and some companies refer to this type of software as Enterprise Employee Scheduling Software. Whatever your organization calls it, TimeForge Scheduling is the most powerful tool available to manage labor and control profits at your business! Read more about the capabilities of TimeForge Scheduling, or Sign Up for a Free Trial.

Download a TimeForge Media Kit, which contains more information about TimeForge Scheduling.

Related articles or pages

• Employee Scheduling Complicated? Not Anymore!
• Easily Manage Labor with Innovative Staffing Reports
• Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor – More Time Managing Your Business
• Building a Labor Schedule is Complicated. Use Tools to Keep Managers and Employees Happy.
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)